Conference for women by women

By

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Notice

Message: Trying to get property of non-object

Filename: articles/article.php

Line Number: 15

January 15, 2015 9:03 AM

Regina-based motivational speaker and author Darci Lang will be the keynote speaker at the fourth annual Inspiring Women Conference, held at the Stockade Convention Centre at the Lloydminster Exhibition Grounds on Feb. 3. - Photo Submitted

The fourth annual Inspiring Women Conference is coming to the Stockade Convention Centre at the Lloydminster Exhibition Grounds on Feb. 3.

The event includes workshops on managing work and life, food and nutrition and “picturing your inner self.” There will also be a number of speakers and a trade show area with local artisans.

“We try to incorporate local women,” said organizer Terra Weaver. “It’s pretty easy to look around on the Internet and social media and see there are a lot of women who are inspiring ... but you don’t really need to look that far. We have women right here in Lloydminster and we like to focus on them and showcase what they have to offer.” Also on the schedule is a panel discussion featuring three local women. Weaver says they try to find women who are known in the community and have an interesting and inspiring story to tell.

“We try to have three generations represented on the panel ... that way there’s something for everybody,” she said. “They are given the mic and they can tell whatever story they want to tell about themselves and it’s usually very entertaining and very motivating.”

Weaver and co-organizer Kelly Sidoryk decided to put on the conference after being inspired by similar events they participated in at Vermilion and Camrose.

“We were looking at each other saying, ‘Someone should do this in Lloydminster,’” she said. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t have one closer to home and we found that maybe the way to do that was to put it on ourselves. The planning of the conference is as motivating as the conference is for us.”

The event’s keynote speaker is Darci Lang, a professional motivational speaker and author from Regina. She has travelled across the country doing speaking engagements for over 20 years and has passed through Lloydminster before. She says she’s looking forward to speaking at the conference, and doing some listening as well.

“Anything that has ‘inspiring women’ in the title is a great place to be,” she said.

“I emailed (them) right away and I said, ‘Please let me come to the entire event,’ because there is so much that’s of interest to me as a woman. So, luckily I’ll be there as an attendee for most of the day, and then I’ll be able to speak to them for a couple hours.”

Lang says holding a women’s conference is important because women can relate to common issues and challenges that are unique to women. Lang’s motivational philosophy is called “focus on the 90 per cent.”

“It’s my belief that we all hold this imaginary magnifying glass out in front of us in our lives and we have a choice where we focus that magnifying glass,” she said. “For me, the analogy is the 90 per cent positive or the not-so-positive 10 per cent. So it’s a simple tool to remind them that we have choice. That we can see the positives in our life and our day, or we can choose to see what isn’t working.”

Lang’s two-hour segment, sponsored by Big Bore, will be broken up into speaking and interactive portions.

“Throughout the two hours, women will be involved in the message, they’ll be doing some table discussions, we’ll be doing some interactive sessions where they’ll be answering some questions from me, and then I give away lots of prizes,” she said. “And women love free things so that always goes over well.”

Weaver says that she expects about 200 people to attend the conference. She says feedback has been positive.

“Interest is gaining. We’ve sold more tickets this year than this time last year, it is growing for sure,” she said. “Generally people are feeling really motivated at the end of the day and they’re really happy that they came.”

Tickets are available by phone at 780-808-1397 or by email at r.weaver@mcsnet.ca.

The event runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are $85 each or $680 to reserve a table for eight attendees.

Battlefords-Lloydminster member of Parliament Rosemarie Falk is back in her constituency for the summer. She held a summer office open house this week for people to have a tour, drop by for a conversation,… more »

Related Stories

No matter how bright one’s outlook, everyone could always use a little extra positivity in their lives, and on Aug. 30 a guest speaker is coming to town with one simple tool to help out with that. more »